The use of lead shot has adverse environmental impacts on birds,

particularly on wetland bird species. Birds such as gamebirds and

wildfowl ingest spent lead gunshot mistakenly for food or the grit that

helps them to grind up food in their muscular gizzards. Ingestion of lead

gunshot by waterfowl is associated with increased death rates. As a

signatory to the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian

Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) the UK agreed to phase out the use of

lead shot in wetlands.

As this is a devolved issue, it is regulated separately in England, Wales,

Scotland and Northern Ireland:

The Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead

Shot) (England) Regulations 1999. The regulations restrict the

use of lead shot over the foreshore and over specified Sites of

Scientific Interest.(SSSIs). It also completely bans its use when

shooting ducks, geese, moorhens and coots.

The Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead

Shot) (Scotland) (No.2) Regulations 2004. The regulations

prohibit the use of lead shot over any wetland, but does not

extend the ban to any waterfowl outside this area. The

legislation uses the definition of wetland used in the Ramsar

Convention:

The Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead

Shot) (Wales) Regulations 2002. Similar to English regulations.

The Environmental Protection (Restriction on Use of Lead

Shot) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2009. Similar to Scottish

regulations.

Despite the regulation, concerns being expressed by scientist that the

legislation is not being complied with and that the potential adverse

health effects on humans that consume game shot with lead has been

underestimated. These concerns were set out in a consensus

statement by scientists in 2014 on Wildlife and Human Health Risks

from Lead-Based Ammunition in Europe. Further evidence was

presented at a symposium held in Oxford on Lead ammunition:

understanding and minimising the risks to human and environmental

health on 10 December 2015. This included details of the number of

birds potentially affected:

A Lead Ammunition Group was set up in in 2010 at the invitation of the

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the

Food Standards Agency (FSA) invited strategic group to advise

Government on the impacts of lead ammunition on wildlife and human

health. The group included a range of stakeholders, including the

Countryside Alliance and the RSPB, although Executive Chairman of

the Countryside Alliance resigned from the Group in protest at what he

called “abuses of process and evidence”, shortly before it submitted its

report to DEFRA and FSA in June 2015.

The report has not yet being published but according to the letter

submitting it to the Government it concludes that “that it is a matter of

political judgment whether the actual and potential risks to wildlife and

human health described in the report and associated risk assessments

merit further mitigation efforts”. The letter also set out a number of

considerations from the report, including the following:

Some 6,000 tonnes of lead from ammunition used in shotgun

and rifle shooting are being discharged every year. At least

2,000 tonnes of shot used for game and pest shooting are

irretrievably and unevenly deposited on or close to the soil

surface where it is available for ingestion by birds. It probably

becomes unavailable to them quite quickly, though it remains

in the soil and substrates for a long time with as yet unknown

consequences.

Lead shot and bullet fragments can be present in game meat

at levels sufficient to cause significant health risks to children

and adult consumers, depending on the amount of game they

consume.

Current regulations restricting the use of lead shot in wetlands

and for shooting wildfowl are apparently not achieving their aim

and are insufficient for dealing with the wider risks because it is

now known not to be just a wetland problem

Safer alternatives to lead ammunition are now available and

being improved and adapted all the time for use in different

shooting disciplines. There is considerable experience from

other countries where change has already been undertaken.

There is no evidence to suggest that a phase out of lead

ammunition and the use of alternatives would have significant

drawbacks for wildlife or human health or, at least, none that

carry the same scale of risks as continuing use of lead; though

there are procedural, technical and R&D issues still to work on

and resolve.

There is no convincing evidence on which to conclude that

other options, short of replacement of lead ammunition, will

address known risks to human health, especially child health.

The evidence has resulted in the WWT, RSPB and the Sustainable

Food Trust to call for lead shot to be phased out by 2017. According

to the AEWA Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway are

countries that have implemented a full ban. However the Norwegian

Parliament voted earlier this year to lift the ban.

The FSA advice on the consumption of game, from October 2015, is

that eating lead-shot game on a frequent basis can expose consumers

to potentially harmful levels of lead, although it does not clarify what it

means by frequent.

Shooting organisations are of the view that there are no effective

alternatives to lead shot, based on performance and cost. The British

Association of Shooting and Conservation is against any change to the

legislation stating that there is no risk to those who do not eat shot

game meat more than once a week. It states that research has

provided evidence that although individual waterfowl can be affected

by lead shot deposition there is no impact on the overall populations of

birds. The Countryside Alliance has also objected to a ban and has

expressed the view that “any further unjustified restrictions could have

serious implications for the gun trade, the rural economy and the

natural environment.”

http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/War-words-erupts-email-

suggesting-imminent-ban/story-26002957-detail/story.html

26 November 2015 Victoria Gill

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34861602

8 May 2015 Ilona Amos Scotsman

http://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/scots-birds-still-being-

poisoned-by-lead-shot-1-3766517

Lead risk to children who eat game

11 October 2015 Patrick Sawer Daily Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/countryside/11924359/Country

side-at-odds-over-lead-risk-to-children-who-eat-game.html

https://www.rspb.org.uk/Images/leadpoisoning2_tcm9-133155.pdf

.

.

In the face of renewed attacks on lead shot BASC’s position on legal

restrictions remains unequivocal – no evidence, no change. We

refuse to countenance any decisions proposed by policy-makers,

regulators or others that are not backed by solid, scientific evidence.

http://basc.org.uk/lead/